I Heard This: The Blood Brothers forming new bonds

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Photo by Renee McMahon

I suppose the good thing about the dissolution of a band you loved is that sometimes the new projects they move on to are just as good, if not better. I'm not quite ready to say that about all the hearty off-shoots that have sprouted on the grave of the Blood Brothers, but that has more to do with me selfishly not wanted to let go of their original incarnation than the quality of their new projects.

Past Lives is Devin Welch, Morgan Henderson, Mark Gajadhar and Jordon Blilie. Their strength as a band comes from reclaiming the Brothers' rhythm section; the arty elegance is found in the impeccable guitar playing of Welch and Blilie's distinctive, charismatic yelps and wails. You can check them out their new material over here at catch them live tonight down at Rendezvous.

Mark Gajadhar also has another oddball electro-hip hop flavored outfit called Champagne Champagne which is starting to play out more often. They have a free show tomorrow at the McLeod residence and you can hear their demos over here.

But what I'm really crazy about right now is Jaguar Love, which consists of J Clark (formerly of Pretty Girls Make Graves), Cody Votolato, and Johnny Whitney. Their song "Bats Over the Pacific Ocean" has been on repeat in my head for the better part of a week. Acquire your own experience over here on their MySpace page.

Here's a clip of them performing this song at the Roseland Ballroom in Portland last winter: